The City Council has launched a programme of subsidised loans for environmentally friendly heating

A meeting was held in the capital municipality on the implementation of the second component of the World Bank-funded project ‘Improving Air Quality in the Kyrgyz Republic’.

It involves providing preferential loans to the population for the purchase of heat pumps, solar water heaters and electric boilers. Money for environmentally friendly heating solutions will be issued through three banks: Ayil Bank, Eldik Bank and Bakai Bank.

It should be noted that this is the second component of the project, which has a total of four components. The first component involved strengthening the air quality management system. Given that the mayor's office has moved on to the second stage, the first stage has apparently already been implemented. However, its results have not been presented.

We would like to add that the second component of the project, ‘Improving Air Quality in the Kyrgyz Republic,’ is similar to another initiative being implemented in the country — the gasification of Bishkek and the Chui region. As part of this initiative, the population is also offered preferential loans through Ayil Bank and Eldik Bank to connect gas to their homes. The widespread use of environmentally friendly fuel in homes should lead to an improvement in the environmental situation in the city.

At the same time, according to information from the Ministry of Finance, as of 18 September, less than 3.5% of the 200 million KGS allocated for these purposes had been used — 6.49 million KGS. Thus, it is clear that the involvement of the population in these projects is low.

However, the city council seems to be aware of this issue. During the meeting, the question of an information campaign and work with the population to implement the second component of the project was discussed.

We would like to add that the event was attended by the Deputy Mayor of Bishkek, Nurgazy Kurmanbekov, World Bank representative Aida Bayalieva, as well as representatives of the ministries involved in the project, deputy heads of administrative districts for housing and communal services, and heads of municipal departments.